Seeing Double
by haleyb333
Summary: Simon (still a Daylighter) and Raphael (very much alive...well...undead) double date with Magnus and Alec! But Magnus has a very special Simon-inspired gift planned for Raphael!
1. Chapter 1

"Dios, I look ridiculous." Simon turned around to evaluate Raphael's current attire, designer jeans and a button-up shirt Simon knew Magnus must have given him. Reaching out to grab hold of a pair of belt loops on Raphael's jeans, Simon pulled him in as close as possible.

"You definitely look stunning to me," he replied before leaning in to give Raphael a quick kiss. Looking slightly annoyed at how short the kiss had been, Raphael turned back to study himself in the mirror.

Simon couldn't help but smile; he and Raphael had been dating for almost a year now. Although Simon was still a Daylighter, he had developed a nocturnal schedule as a way to keep up their relationship. About a week ago, Raphael had made the mistake of complaining that they never had any "adventurous" dates anymore. Now they were suddenly being whisked away on a double date with Magnus and Alec.

"Remind me again why we are doing this, Lewis." Raphael's voice was more of a groan, and Simon could tell that he was still caught up in his appearance.

"Well, Santiago, we are doing this because Magnus is terribly excited to have planned this date." He came to stand behind Raphael, wrapping his arms around the other man and resting his chin on Raphael's shoulder. "We are also doing this because, knowing Magnus, we cannot leave Alec to deal with whatever Magnus has planned. We are men, Raphael, we can do this, no matter how scary Magnus's date ideas always are."

Raphael grinned as Simon used his name. They had become used to calling each other by their last names, using first names when they wanted to show more affection, affection that was crystal clear in Simon's voice.

"No, no," began Raphael as he turned around to face Simon. "I get that. But what I don't get, Simon, is why we are letting Magnus surprise us."

This time, Raphael went in for a kiss, and Simon reacted eagerly, leaning into Raphael as he always did. And as always, the world around Simon melted, nothing other than Raphael mattered. He felt like he was home, safe and sound within Raphael's arms.

Smiling, Simon broke off the kiss and gazed back at a highly annoyed Raphael. "You know, Santiago, if we keep going, we'll never make it to our date."

Turning out of Simon's arms, Raphael smiled enough to show off his fangs. "Why are you always the responsible one, Lewis?"

"Someone has to balance you out, Raphael."

Simon liked to think that he knew a thing or two about terrible dates, he sort of thought of himself as the master of terrible dates. But this date, was going so terribly that Simon was certain it topped any terrible date on his list.

He was currently attempting to hold back laughter at the terrible awkwardness that had just spread over the table. If Raphael's rock hard grip on Simon's hand and the glare full of death that Alec was giving him across the table were any evidence, he was failing miserably at containing it.

They were having dinner at a Downworlder-exclusive restaurant, and Simon was nervously trying to figure out what else Magnus apparently had planned. Their waitress, an obviously young warlock, had just uttered perhaps the funniest question Simon had ever heard anyone ask Magnus, and he was having immense trouble keeping that fact to himself. Now that Simon thought about it, it looked like Alec was having trouble too; he looked like he was about pass out from trying to keep his mouth shut.

"Why, Mr. Bane!" Their waitress had exclaimed. "I heard that your….preferences were a bit….exotic. But I had no idea you were this brave!" Magnus was visibly confused, as was everyone at the table. Until she clarified and everyone became in danger of busting out laughing. "What's it like to, you know…"

Magnus's voice was surprisingly calm when he answered. "No, I don't think I understand. Please, go ahead and enlighten me."

The girl looked embarrassed as she began speaking again. "Well…how is it to…take on a Shadowhunter and two vampires…you know…in bed?"

To no one's surprise, Magnus didn't skip a beat, suddenly becoming overly serious. "Oh, you have no idea. It's got to be the scariest thing I've ever done." He dropped her a glittering wink and she ran to get their food, obviously flustered.

It was then that Simon and Alec burst into laughter while Raphael looked as though he could die, again. Simon rearranged his grip in Raphael's hand, giving it a gentle squeeze as he leaned over and whispered in his boyfriend's ear, "Oh come on, have a sense of humor."

Raphael turned and gave Simon a slight grin, and it looked as though he wanted to kiss Simon until Alec started speaking.

"I've been on a few terrible dates, no offense, Magnus." At that, Magnus inclined his head and flashed them all a smile. "But this has got to be one of the worst," finished Alec.

It was Raphael's turn to speak up and give a question of his own. "What? I thought it was going swimmingly. I mean, between the werewolf fight we somehow got in the middle of on the way here, then the demon that attacked Alec shortly after, and now this terribly awkward waitress not to mention the stares from almost everyone in here, what's not to love about this date?"

Anyone who didn't know Raphael would have said that he was being completely serious about hating the date, but Simon knew him well enough to hear the stubble hint of sarcasm that came along with what he was newly able to recognize as joy.

"Well, I know that all three of you have been terribly nervous about what I have planned," Magnus's voice was full of amusement. "But, I planned something I think everyone will love, no tricks, no surprises, I swear."

Simon chuckled as Alec spoke up. "No glitter?" Magnus nudged him lovingly and simply shook his head.

As they ate their food, Simon couldn't stop wondering what else could possibly happen to them that night, what Magnus was going to have them do. On their way out, Magnus made the comment that he had a couple of friends helping him put it together. Simon's anxiety heightened as he realized they were walking back toward Magnus and Alec's apartment.

He felt Raphael's grip on his hand tighten as he seemed to realize that fact seconds after Simon. He looked over at Simon, a question clear on his lips but Simon simply shrugged and continued walking.

When they arrived at Magnus and Alec's, Magnus threw the door open with a flourish. "Welcome, to my humble project," he said with a flashy grin.

Simon was watching Raphael as the door opened, and he was pleasantly surprised as Raphael's face lit up with pure elation.


	2. Chapter 2

At first, Simon almost reacted badly, almost throwing himself in front of Raphael or really anything to keep him out of danger. The danger being a sudden burst of light so bright that Simon was momentarily afraid the sun had come out, even though it was nearing midnight.

As Raphael eagerly entered the apartment, Magnus came up behind Simon. "Nothing to worry about," he said in Simon's ear. "Artificial sunlight and all that jazz. It's been tested and proven safe, of course you can tell that. He'd be dead by now if it weren't safe."

Simon turned back to Magnus and away from the open doorway, the question obvious in his eyes. "Magnus, what is this exactly?"

In response, Magnus spread out a ring-covered hand and replied, "Go in and see for yourself."

When he first stepped inside, Simon thought he had somehow stepped through a portal. The apartment seemed to impossibly open up into what looked like a meadow. On the celling in the right-hand corner of the apartment, Simon could see what looked like the sun shining brightly. The only difference was that it wasn't so bright that it couldn't be looked at directly.

Unbelievably, there seemed to be a slight breeze, and Simon looked down to see that the "grass" looked and felt real as well. Simon could even smell the outdoors, as though they were standing right in the noonday sun, everything was perfectly arranged to make it believable, almost too believable.

Then, Simon thought to look at Raphael, who was standing directly in the center of the room, staring straight at the artificial sun. There was a soft smile on his face, the likes of which Simon had only seen a handful of times. When Raphael was smiling as wide as possible, the person he was smiling at likely should run. But Simon had learned that when the smile was soft, like a ghost, as though it would disappear at any time, that was when Raphael was truly full to the brim with joy.

Suddenly, Raphael was in front of Simon and had hold of both of his hands. "Simon! Dios, Simon!" There was such a child-like joy to Raphael's voice that Simon could hardly contain his own happiness. He was unsure that Raphael had been this happy in a long time. "It's the sun! I'm in the sun!"

Shaking his head and laughing slightly, Simon answered, "I see that, Raphael. This place looks almost as amazing as you." Raphael had been looking around the "apartment", but when Simon finished speaking, he suddenly stopped and looked Simon straight in the eye.

Once again, it seemed as though Raphael wanted to kiss Simon, but before he could, Magnus spoke up again. "All of this," he waved a hand around the meadow, and Simon felt as though he wanted to strangle him for the interruption, until he finished speaking. "This was actually inspired by Simon." At that, they both turned to stare at him questioningly.

Magnus chuckled before beginning, amused at the identical looks on their faces. "Well, the other day, Simon and I were talking about several different things. One comment, however, stood out to me, and I couldn't help but do something about it."

When Magnus paused, Simon began trying to rack his brain as to anything he might have said that would have triggered this. Raphael was staring at him, wide-eyed and just as confused as Simon was when Magnus began again.

"We were talking about what we wished we could give Alec and Raphael. Now, I think we all know that of course I wish I could give Alec more time." He turned to Raphael and began speaking directly to him. "Simon, on the other hand, wasn't entirely sure of what he would give you if he had the chance. He was rambling on, more thinking out loud than anything, when he mentioned that he himself wished the two of you could be see the sun together, at least once."

Simon broke away from Raphael when Magnus said this, unable to take the simultaneous joy and grief in Raphael's eyes. Magnus, however, continued talking. "That got me thinking about a lot of things. But mostly about how right after Simon was Turned, you were jealous of his ability to walk in the sun. So, with the help of Catarina and Tessa, I changed the apartment, got some romantic wine and music, and planned a little day in the park, if you will."

That was when Simon looked over to see Alec holding the said wine and smiling in a way he had rarely seen. Suddenly, he felt Raphael's arms wrap around him and heard a muffled "Thank you" in his ear. There was so much emotion packed into Raphael's voice that Simon thought he would likely burst. Smiling himself, Simon relaxed into Raphael's hold in a way he was finding increasingly easy.

After several moments together, they went to join Magnus and Alec where they were sitting on the ground. Raphael immediately put his head in Simon's lap so that he could continuously look at the fake sun. Without thinking, Simon began to run his hand through Raphael's hair, a habit he had picked up from their ever-increasing "couch time".

Looking down at Raphael, Simon knew his eyes had filled with love. The smile on the other man's face was so genuine, full of so much happiness, so much joy for life, that Simon almost felt like he was out of breath. Almost. If only he needed to breathe any longer. After a few minutes of simply staring at the sun, Raphael looked up at Simon.

To Simon's immense pleasure, the amount of joy in Raphael's expression wasn't changed when he looked to Simon instead. His own smile widened when Raphael began to speak. "I've dreamt of this from the moment I was Turned." It seemed as though Raphael was on the verge of chocking up, and Simon tried to keep from chuckling at that fact.

Brushing his thumb across Raphael's forehead, Simon responded, "Well, tell me Santiago, is it as good as you imagined it?"

Raphael slowly closed his eyes before answering. "It's much better, Lewis. Much better than I could have ever dreamed."

To Simon's surprise, Alec spoke up next. His voice was soft, and Simon could tell that he was simply curious. "What makes it better? I mean, if you've thought about it so much, then why's this better than anything you ever came up with?"

At that, Raphael sat up and turned to face Magnus and Alec, wrapping an arm around Simon while he did so. "You want me to answer that honestly, Lightwood?" Alec simply nodded, briefly smiling as he did so. "Well, there's only one reason that makes it better than anything I've ever come up with on my own. The reason is that, no matter how hard I may have imagined being in the sun again, I never imagined I would have Simon by my side."

They were all speechless, causing Raphael to laugh softly. "I have a question of my own, actually." His voice was crystal clear, as was the excitement within it. "Is there any way, Magnus, that I could get you to turn one of our rooms into something like this?"

Magnus's voice was dripping with adoration when he answered. "I think I could throw something together, Santiago."


End file.
